Trust Is Mutual, ANBU Withdraw!

"Shisui!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his voice, trying to suppress him with the greater good.

"You are a shinobi who inherited Kagami Uchiha's Will of Fire. You should understand that the village's peace did not come easily."

"Lu Ming's extreme hardline approach will only intensify the conflict and ignite war within the village."

"Will you really stand by and watch him lead the Uchiha to destruction?!"

Yet in the face of the Third Hokage's harsh rebuke, Shisui did not retreat in the slightest.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Lu Ming's approach is the Uchiha's only path to survival."

"If the village truly regarded us as companions, why would it keep pressing us step by step?"

"Lord Lu Ming's firmness is only meant to protect the family from further harm."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was left speechless.

To his horror, even Shisui, whom he had always indoctrinated with the "Will of Fire," had completely taken Lu Ming's side.

Lu Ming's personal charisma and methods were truly terrifying.

Hiruzen Sarutobi forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart and shifted the subject to the matter he feared most.

"Fine. We'll set that matter aside for now."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at Shisui.

"Tell me, where did those forty-three Three Tomoe elites who followed Lu Ming to Root tonight come from?"

"How could the Uchiha have secretly cultivated such a massive force without anyone noticing?!"

At the mention of those forty-three Temple elites, Shisui's tone became impassioned.

"Lord Hokage, those people are all Lord Lu Ming's direct subordinates."

Shisui stated frankly.

"They are all elite veterans whom Lord Lu Ming personally rescued from mountains of corpses and seas of blood during the Third Shinobi World War!"

"Veterans of the Third Shinobi World War?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's entire body shook.

"Yes."

Shisui continued.

"Back on the battlefield, Lord Lu Ming pulled them back from Death's hands time and again."

"They are fanatically loyal to Lord Lu Ming and would brave fire and water for him!"

"And that is not all."

Shisui revealed a fact that drove Hiruzen Sarutobi into despair.

"All these years, they have trained diligently under Lord Lu Ming's secret guidance."

"Lord Lu Ming possesses exceptionally brilliant training methods. Every one of them has extraordinary strength, and their Sharingan evolve at astonishing speed, completely defying common sense!"

His words stirred up a tempest within the Hokage Office.

Several elite ANBU operatives hiding in the shadows could no longer contain themselves and audibly sucked in breaths.

"My god... they're all veterans who crawled out of the piles of corpses from the Third Shinobi World War?!"

"No wonder their killing intent is so terrifying! No wonder every one of them can activate the Three Tomoe!"

"Fanatical loyalty, extraordinary strength, rapidly evolving Sharingan... this is practically an invincible private army!"

The ANBU shinobi looked at one another. Beneath their masks, every face had gone pale, and the hands gripping their ninja blades trembled uncontrollably.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He had assumed those forty-three were merely young geniuses secretly cultivated by the Uchiha, lacking actual combat experience.

But now Shisui was telling him—

They were all battle-hardened veterans tempered by the brutal crucible of war.

Three Mangekyo, along with a fiercely loyal guard force made up of Third Shinobi World War veterans, every member possessing Three Tomoe.

This force had already surpassed the question of whether Konoha could suppress them. It had become a question of whether the Uchiha wanted to overthrow Konoha!

Fine cold sweat beaded across Hiruzen Sarutobi's forehead.

He collapsed back into the Hokage's chair, gasping heavily as his wariness toward the Uchiha reached unprecedented heights.

Just as the atmosphere in the Hokage Office became stifling—

Bang!

The office's wooden door was violently slammed open from outside.

An ANBU shinobi wearing a cat-faced mask rushed inside.

"Lord Hokage! This is bad! Something terrible has happened!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi rose to his feet and shouted angrily.

"What kind of behavior is this, panicking like that?! What happened?!"

The ANBU shinobi dropped to one knee and reported loudly.

"It's... it's the hidden surveillance posts monitoring the Uchiha District!"

"Earlier, under your orders, we established dozens of covert observation posts around the Uchiha District."

"But five minutes ago, the Uchiha shinobi suddenly came out in full force!"

The ANBU shinobi swallowed.

"They made no effort to hide their movements. With lightning speed, they locked onto every one of our surveillance posts and surrounded them tightly."

"They have even drawn their ninja blades halfway. Their killing intent is soaring, and our brothers are at risk of being eliminated!"

"What?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened in fury as both hands clenched the edge of his desk.

They had counter-surrounded the ANBU surveillance posts! They had drawn their blades against them!

This was naked military intimidation.

This was grinding the Konoha Leadership's dignity into the ground!

"How dare they? How dare they do this!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi trembled with rage, his roar echoing through the office.

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to lose control and order ANBU reinforcements.

Uchiha Shisui, who had been standing to the side, suddenly stepped forward.

"Lord Hokage."

Shisui remained calm. Meeting Hiruzen Sarutobi's murderous glare, he spoke.

"Before sending me here, Lord Lu Ming specifically instructed me to pass along a message to you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at Shisui, gritting his teeth.

"What does he want to say?!"

Shisui straightened his back and repeated Lu Ming's exact words.

"Trust is mutual. The Uchiha Family should not be subjected to this kind of surveillance."

The words echoed directly through Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind.

Trust was mutual. They should not be subjected to this kind of surveillance.

There was no room for negotiation. This was an ultimatum.

Lu Ming was telling him in the strongest possible terms: if Konoha continued these underhanded surveillance games, the Uchiha would not hesitate to cut off every claw reaching toward them!

The office fell utterly silent.

Every ANBU shinobi held his breath, waiting for the Third Hokage's decision.

Standing behind his desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a deep sense of helplessness.

Go to war?

With what?

With ordinary shinobi who could not even withstand the pressure of the Three Tomoe, and send them to fight three Mangekyo to the death?!

If they did not withdraw the surveillance posts, the Uchiha would kill without hesitation. Then the situation would spiral completely out of control, and Konoha would inevitably plunge into the bottomless abyss of civil war.

"Ha..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long sigh. In that moment, he seemed to have aged ten years.

He sank helplessly back into the Hokage's chair and waved a hand, his voice frighteningly low.

"Pass down my order..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes and swallowed his shattered pride.

"Order the recall of all ANBU surveillance personnel. From this moment onward, cease all monitoring of the Uchiha District."

"Lord Hokage!"

The reporting ANBU shinobi's face was full of humiliation.

"Execute the order!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a powerless roar.

"Yes..." The ANBU shinobi lowered his head, turned, and rushed out of the office.

Shisui watched the scene and lowered his head slightly.

"Thank you for your understanding, Lord Hokage. I will return at once to report to Lord Lu Ming."

With that, Shisui's figure flashed, and he vanished from the spot.

In the empty Hokage Office, only Hiruzen Sarutobi remained, slumped in his chair with a despondent expression.